Monarchs and Milkweed: A Migrating Butterfly, a Poisonous Plant, and Their Remarkable Story of Coevolution
SKU: 11065265053

Monarchs and Milkweed: A Migrating Butterfly, a Poisonous Plant, and Their Remarkable Story of Coevolution

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Monarchs and Milkweed: A Migrating Butterfly, a Poisonous Plant, and Their Remarkable Story of CoevolutionThe fascinating and complex evolutionary relationship of the monarch butterfly and the milkweed plant Monarch butterflies are one of nature's most recognizable creatures, known for their bright colors and epic annual migration from the United States and Canada to Mexico. Yet there is much more to the monarch than its distinctive presence and mythic journeying. In Monarchs and Milkweed, Anurag Agrawal presents a vivid investigation into how the monarch

The fascinating and complex evolutionary relationship of the monarch butterfly and the milkweed plant

Monarch butterflies are one of nature's most recognizable creatures, known for their bright colors and epic annual migration from the United States and Canada to Mexico. Yet there is much more to the monarch than its distinctive presence and mythic journeying. In Monarchs and Milkweed, Anurag Agrawal presents a vivid investigation into how the monarch butterfly has evolved closely alongside the milkweed--a toxic plant named for the sticky white substance emitted when its leaves are damaged--and how this inextricable and intimate relationship has been like an arms race over the millennia, a battle of exploitation and defense between two fascinating species.

The monarch life cycle begins each spring when it deposits eggs on milkweed leaves. But this dependency of monarchs on milkweeds as food is not reciprocated, and milkweeds do all they can to poison or thwart the young monarchs. Agrawal delves into major scientific discoveries, including his own pioneering research, and traces how plant poisons have not only shaped monarch-milkweed interactions but have also been culturally important for centuries. Agrawal presents current ideas regarding the recent decline in monarch populations, including habitat destruction, increased winter storms, and lack of milkweed--the last one a theory that the author rejects. He evaluates the current sustainability of monarchs and reveals a novel explanation for their plummeting numbers.

Lavishly illustrated with more than eighty color photos and images, Monarchs and Milkweed takes readers on an unforgettable exploration of one of nature's most important and sophisticated evolutionary relationships.

-- "The Cardinal"

Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 03/28/2017
ISBN: 9780691166353
Pages: 296
Weight: 2.15lbs
Size: 9.10h x 7.30w x 1.10d

Review Citations: Kirkus Reviews 02/15/2017
Library Journal 03/01/2017 pg. 98
Booklist 03/15/2017 pg. 8
Choice 09/01/2017
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SKU: 11065265053

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Reckless Reader
Natrona Heights, US
β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… 5
Spectacular Albeit Unknown History of Race Relations
Format: Hardcover
This is a great piece of historiography about something few know about at all --- slavery in New York City in the 18th century. How about a slave "rebellion" in New York City, how about more people burned at the stake than in the Salem witchcraft trials, how about dark byways and highways of old New York, barely transformed from its days as New Amsterdam, dark plots in dank places, shrill frightened tyrants overreacting with bloody retribution, burned ruins of an early African American village in Central Park? One cannot make up this stuff, it is too real so it must be history at its best. And written by one of our premier authors of history, a woman who makes our history live in The New Yorker to the acclaim of many, and yet whose best book, this one, is still too little known. If you appreciate Harry Truman's remark that the only new thing under the Sun is the history you haven't read, then this is one to curl up with and marvel at; a great way to spend a rainy day or a dark night.
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Reviewed in the United States on January 22, 2010
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Michael Pointer
New York, US
β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… 4
Good, but not great.
Format: Paperback
Kudos to Lepore for delving into an important, little known subject, which she does better than most historians. At times, however, I think she felt the need to put every little piece of information she got into the book. It was way too long. Some good research, but she has done better. Still, worth checking out. I like to think I know American history, but I know nothing about this awful chapter.
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Reviewed in the United States on April 1, 2019
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John Warren
Belleville, US
β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… 5
DAMN, this is a great book!
Format: Hardcover
All history books should be this detailed, this readable, this humane. Lepore knows how to write about a horrible, nearly forgotten episode in NYC history. Unlike many historians, she steps away from overt politics or raw emotion. She knows that this subject is too serious to be shouted. It is the rare history book that is packed with facts as well as knowledge. I felt like Lepore was taking my hand and leading me through the smelly streets of lower Manhattan in 1741, like I could almost see the faces of...what were they, anyway? The victims of a horrible hoax? The demented planners of a plot to burn the city? Or something in between, where thieves can also be the keepers of ancient rites from a distant homeland, where the world is turned upside down? I could go on and on, but just buy the book!
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Reviewed in the United States on May 20, 2008
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Kim Burdick
New York, US
β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… 3
New York Burning
Format: Paperback
. This is an important book that explores in depth what is usually only found in textbooks as a one-sentence summation: "In 1741 there was a slave uprising in New York City." Scholars will probably be happier starting with the Appendix and bibliography and then reading the book. The text is disorganized and uneven, and although this is non-fiction, the characters could have been more finely drawn. Peter Zenger's trail keeps popping up in unexpected places, often disconnected from the action the author is working on. Some sections are heavy on primary documents and period writings, others are more poetic. Yes, I do understand the parallels with the Salem Witch Trials. The Salem Witch Trials get more press today because of Arthur Miller's "Crucible." Color and religion of the participants aside, both events are stories of group think and mass hysteria, fear and anger. There is plenty of room here for a first-class film or play to be written. Read this book, learn from it. Expect to complain about it. Kim Burdick Stanton, DE
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Reviewed in the United States on November 7, 2014
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Robert B. Tauber
Carnegie, US
β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… 5
What You Didn't Know
Format: Paperback
Did you know that if you were a Catholic Priest on the streets of New York in 1747 that you'd be arrested and hung! Great book if you're interested in the times during which our founding Fathers were growing up. It'll give you a different concept on how slavery was different in NYC as opposed to in the South, and how many of the streets in NYC got there names from English magistrates. If you like history, especially of NYC, you'll love this book.
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Reviewed in the United States on January 24, 2015

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